Building a Martial Dao Celestial Family by Laying Low

"Father?"

Chen Shouheng turned around.

Chen Li asked, "How is your cultivation coming along?"

Chen Shouheng replied, "I have tempered three of my five viscera—the spleen, lungs, and liver—and have begun to condense their qi. Only the heart and kidneys remain. Their refinement is still shallow and will require more time to polish."

Chen Li nodded slightly. His eldest son’s cultivation technique required him to temper the five viscera step by step.

It was unlike his own Five Grains Qi Storage Technique, which cultivated all five viscera and their corresponding five elements from the very beginning.

This was why, upon reaching the Inner Mansion Pass, he could take a shortcut and directly construct an Inner Mansion Little World.

He then asked, "Have you made any progress in cultivating True Intent?"

A look of shame crossed Chen Shouheng’s face, and he gave a wry smile. "I am too slow-witted. I have yet to even grasp the basics. At the Martial Arts Academy, I diligently cultivated the Dragon Suppressing Palm and visited the Library Pavilion many times to study the True Intent of Palm Technique, but I always feel like there’s a layer of fog obscuring it, making it impossible to truly touch its essence."

Chen Li wasn’t sure why the system hadn’t given his eldest son a reward related to True Intent.

After all, both he and his second son, Shouye, had obtained their respective True Intents, which they could directly refine upon reaching the Void Transformation stage.

In comparison, his eldest son’s journey on the Martial Dao did seem a bit more arduous.

However, hardship wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It could better temper one’s character.

He immediately stood up and gestured for Chen Shouheng to follow him into the study’s secret room.

The moment Chen Shouheng stepped into the secret room, before he could even ask a question, the scene around him suddenly twisted and transformed.

The stone walls were gone, replaced by a boundless, milky-white void. Emptiness stretched above, below, and all around him, leaving him with no sense of his location.

"What is this?"

Chen Shouheng was horrified. He subconsciously circulated his Inner Qi, focusing his mind and raising his guard.

Just then, the void a short distance ahead of him rippled, and a human silhouette slowly condensed into form.

As the silhouette became clear, Chen Shouheng’s pupils contracted.

The person’s face, figure, and clothes were identical to his own.

Even their expression and movements were mimicked flawlessly.

"Shouheng."

As he stood there, shocked and uncertain, Chen Li’s voice drifted over, ethereal, as if from beyond the heavens. "Do not panic. This is an Illusion Realm for training. Your opponent is the you before you. Fight with all your might. Don’t hold back."

Hearing this, Chen Shouheng’s Heart Spirit calmed slightly. He did as he was told, focusing his mind and preparing for battle.

He took a deep breath, assumed the opening stance of the Tiger Subduing Fist, and let out a low shout. Pushing off with his feet, his body lunged like a tiger pouncing on its prey as he took the initiative and attacked "himself."

The wind from his fist whistled as he aimed straight for his opponent’s center.

The mirror image didn’t dodge or evade. It met his attack with the same "Tiger Descends the Mountain" technique, their fists colliding head-on with no frills.

BANG!

The clash of Qi Strength produced a dull thud.

Chen Shouheng felt a Power surge back at him—one from the same source as his own, yet far more condensed. The impact numbed his arm and roiled his blood and qi, forcing him back half a step.

His mirror image, however, stood its ground firmly, its eyes cold and indifferent.

’How is this possible?’

Chen Shouheng was startled.

Refusing to believe it, he switched up his Fist Technique, launching a swift, unorthodox attack at his opponent’s ribs.

His mirror image seemed to have anticipated this. It countered with the same move, but with a "late-comer’s advantage," striking first and swiping at Chen Shouheng’s wrist.

This forced him to change his move and defend.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed Chen Shouheng became.

Not only did his mirror image have the exact same cultivation and techniques, but its understanding of the Tiger Subduing Fist and its application of the Dragon Suppressing and Tiger Subduing True Skill seemed to surpass his own.

It executed many exquisite transitions and variations that he himself had never even considered possible.

Furthermore, in actual combat, the mirror image’s responses were always perfect. It could even predict his follow-up moves, often striking first despite moving second and leaving him flustered and in disarray.

After just a few dozen exchanges, Chen Shouheng was completely on the defensive, parrying far more than attacking. Several times, he was nearly struck in a vital spot.

Cold sweat dripped down his back.

’This isn’t working! I have to switch to my Palm Technique!’

Chen Shouheng gritted his teeth.

He unleashed his Dragon Suppressing Palm Technique. The Palm Wind howled, faintly carrying the momentum of a dragon’s roar.

However, his mirror image also used the Dragon Suppressing Palm, but its Palm Intent was even more majestic and overwhelming, suppressing him completely.

The intense battle lasted for a full four hours.

Chen Shouheng was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through. He was panting like an ox, his Inner Qi nearly depleted.

His mirror image, in contrast, remained calm and composed, its Inner Breath as steady and seemingly endless as ever.

Finally, faced with a flawlessly executed attack from the mirror image, Chen Shouheng failed to defend in time and was struck by a Palm Seal on the chest.

PFFT!

He felt as if he had been hit by an immense force. A sweet taste filled his throat, and he was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the void.

The instant he was hit, the surrounding white space shattered like a mirror and dissipated.

The Illusion Realm receded like a tide, and the scene around him returned to the stone walls of the secret room.

He found himself back in the secret room.

His father, Chen Li, was standing nearby, watching him with a calm expression.

As for himself, besides his exhausted Heart Spirit and depleted Inner Qi, his body was completely unharmed.

Chen Shouheng sat cross-legged to regulate his breath.

But his mind continuously replayed every detail of the battle.

He focused especially on the mirror image’s application of techniques that were beyond his comprehension and its profound interpretation of the Martial Arts Realm.

After a long while, he finished his meditation and stood up. His face was filled with incredulous shock as he looked at his father. "Father... what... what was that? It was incredible!"

A satisfied smile appeared on Chen Li’s face as he explained, "This is an Exotic Treasure I recently acquired, called the Ruins Mirror. It is a wondrous item. It can reflect the form and spirit of whoever looks into it, creating a mirror-image opponent with identical Martial Arts, cultivation, and even martial comprehension, for the purpose of life-and-death combat training."

It turned out that just yesterday, when his first grandson was born, the long-silent system notification had sounded in Chen Li’s mind.

[Congratulations to the host on the birth of your first grandson. The family legacy has taken a firm step forward. Reward issued: Ruins Mirror, 10 years of lifespan.]

He had carefully read the description and discovered that this was an extraordinary treasure.

Unfortunately, using the Ruins Mirror required someone of higher cultivation to expend their Inner Qi and Divine Sense to activate it. The user couldn’t enter the training by themselves.

But even so, the mirror was an extremely rare and precious treasure, crucial for securing the family’s legacy.

In the future, the family’s younger generation wouldn’t need to go out into the world to fight and gain experience.

Training inside this Ruins Realm could achieve the same results, perhaps even better ones.

After all, in a real life-and-death battle, facing someone stronger often led to death, while fighting someone weaker didn’t provide much of a challenge.

Fighting a life-and-death battle against oneself in the Ruins Mirror would undoubtedly lead to faster growth and improvement.

...

Two days later, Chen Shouheng and Zhou Shuwei bid farewell to their family, left Lingxi, and headed for Liyang Commandery City.

They reached the Commandery City by evening.

After resting for a day, they went straight to the Governor’s Office the next morning.

They found the office of the Ritual and Education Department, which was responsible for verifying documents for the Imperial Examination.

Inside the gatehouse, a junior official in a blue Clerk Uniform was slumped over a desk. He rested his head on one hand as if dozing off, while his other hand listlessly flipped through a yellowed ledger.

Chen Shouheng stepped forward, cupped his fist, and said, "Greetings, clerk. We are here to process our documents for the Martial Examination’s Provincial Examination."

The junior official barely lifted his eyelids, gave the two a lazy once-over, then let his eyes droop again. In a drawn-out voice, he said, "Oh, Martial Examination documents... just wait. Can’t you see I’m busy?"

With that, he picked up the ledger and pretended to read it.

Chen Shouheng understood the situation but didn’t call him out on it. He simply took out a piece of silver worth five taels from his robes and discreetly slipped it next to the junior official’s hand. "We appreciate your hard work, clerk. We’re in a hurry to get back on the road, so things are a bit difficult for us."

The moment his fingertips touched the cool silver, the junior official’s eyes lit up. He expertly swept the silver into his sleeve and said repeatedly, "Aiya, look at me, I must be addled from all the work. Please, you two, wait just a moment. I’ll have it ready right away, right away."

He immediately took out a blank document, asked Chen Shouheng for his Scholar’s Official Certificate, and began writing with a flourish. His attitude was completely different from before.

Soon, Chen Shouheng’s document was filled out.

The junior official took out the seal of the Ritual and Education Department and stamped it with a loud THWACK!

"Young Master, yours is ready."

The junior official handed over the document with a smile, then looked at Zhou Shuwei. "And you, miss? Your Scholar’s Official Certificate?"

Zhou Shuwei calmly handed it over.

"Zhou... Shuwei?"

The junior official raised his brush to write, but the tip froze the instant it touched the paper.

It was as if he had been hit with an Immobilization Technique. The hand holding the brush trembled violently, and a drop of thick ink fell onto the paper, quickly bleeding outwards.

He stared intently at the name, his face instantly turning deathly pale. A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his breathing became heavy.

Noticing something was wrong, Chen Shouheng frowned and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"N-No... nothing’s wrong."

The junior official snapped back to his senses. He dropped his brush, clutched his stomach with both hands, and forced an expression of extreme pain onto his face. His voice trembled, "Oh, ouch! My apologies, you two. I think I ate something bad this morning. My stomach is killing me; I can’t hold on. Please, sit for a moment, have some tea. I’ll be right back."

Before Chen Shouheng or Zhou Shuwei could react, he clutched his stomach and scurried out a side door like a startled rabbit, disappearing in an instant.

Chen Shouheng and Zhou Shuwei looked at each other, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts.

The junior official rushed out of the Ritual and Education Department, all traces of his supposed illness gone. He ran at top speed straight for the duty office of his superior, Dean Li Siye.

"L-Lord Li! S-Something’s wrong!" the junior official panted, too frantic to mind his etiquette.

Li Siye, who was reviewing documents, looked up and chided him in displeasure, "What’s with all the panic? Show some decorum! What is it?"

"It’s... it’s the Zhou Family. The young lady of the Zhou Family, Zhou Shuwei... she... she’s here to process her documents for the Martial Examination’s Provincial Examination," the junior official hurriedly reported.

"What?"

Li Siye’s expression changed, his face growing grim. "Are you certain it was Zhou Shuwei?"

"Absolutely certain! Her household register and Scholar’s Official Certificate all match up. She’s waiting in my gatehouse right now."

Li Siye paced around the room a few times. This matter had huge implications; a mere Dean like him would never dare to make a decision on his own.

He immediately said to the junior official, "Go back at once and find a way to stall them. Under no circumstances are you to issue her document. Just make them wait. I’m going to report this to the Lord Governor."

Hearing this, the junior official’s face turned bitter, as if he’d just swallowed a bitter melon.

’Stall them?’

’What excuse could a junior official like me possibly use to stall them?’

But an order from a superior could not be defied. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree. "Yes, yes, I will do my best..."